Esther Rantzen’s Silver Line helpline is godsend for Jack, 95

WAR hero Jack King’s heart broke when he lost Audrey, his wife for 65 years. But now the 95-year-old former soldier has found new happiness after using Esther Rantzen’s The Silver Line charity to make friends.

Jack, a writer and painter, told yesterday how the helpline had helped him battle loneliness.

He said: “I have to thank them for opening my life up. “They keep me busy – I’m very grateful.” In the war Jack survived working on the Japanese “Death Railway” depicted in film The Bridge On The River Kwai.

He met Audrey at a railway station when he returned from the war and, after a whirlwind romance, they married and had three sons.

But then five years ago she died. Jack said: “It was like a light going out in your life after 65 years of sharing everything.

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War hero Jack King found new happiness after using Esther Rantzen’s The Silver Line charity

Just to have a chat with someone, to hear a voice other than one’s own voice does mean a lot

Jack King

“Suddenly there’s no one there. It leaves a great hole. I didn’t want to open the curtains, didn’t want to go anywhere. “I was at a complete and utter loss, there was such a void.

“I just lived my life as best I could. I used to go to an old people’s centre where we would recite poetry and read together, but of course that closed down.”

Jack, of Eastbourne, East Sussex, is unable to move about easily because of war wounds and soon fell prey to chronic loneliness.

But he then discovered The Silver Line, which was set up by TV star Dame Esther, 77, after she endured grief after the death of her husband Desmond Wilcox at 69 seven years ago.

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Dame Esther set up The Silver Line after she endured grief following the death of her husband

She says Britain is facing an epidemic of loneliness among older people and has vowed: “It isn’t enough just to talk about it, we have to find ways of solving it.”

Jack was able to use The Silver Line’s free helpline service to speak to a volunteer called Hannah, who has worked wonders helping him fight the feeling of isolation.

He said: “She’s a very nice, bright, intelligent person and lovely to speak to. I always enjoy her calls. She’s a barrel of fun. Just to have a chat with someone, to hear a voice other than one’s own voice does mean a lot. She has become a friend.”

The former Army bombardier said his war-time ordeal, building the jungle railway from Bangkok to Burma, helped him appreciate better times.

Jack said: “People these days couldn’t imagine the Christmases we had in the jungle. I had to catch lizards to survive because we were given only rice or sometimes a weak vegetable stew. I lost many friends.

“I got malaria time after time but doing sketches kept me sane. It amazes me I’ve lived this long.”